Medieval literature

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Medieval literature is a broad subject, encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe beyond and during the Middle Ages (encompassing the one thousand years from the fall of the Western Roman Empire ca. AD 500 to the beginning of the Florentine Renaissance in the late 15th century). The literature of this time was composed of religious writings as well as secular works. Just as in modern literature, it is a complex and rich field of study, from the utterly sacred to the exuberantly profane, touching all points in-between. Because of the wide range of time and place it is difficult to speak in general terms without oversimplification, and thus the literature is best characterized by its place of origin and/or language, as well as its genre.

Languages

Since Latin was the language of the Roman Catholic Church, which dominated Western and Central Europe, and since the Church was virtually the only source of education, Latin was a common language for Medieval writings, even in some parts of Europe that were never Romanized. However, in Eastern Europe, the influence of the Eastern Roman Empire and the Eastern Orthodox Church made Greek and Old Church Slavonic the dominant written languages.

The common people continued to use their respective vernaculars. A few examples, such as the Old English Beowulf, the Middle High German Nibelungenlied, the Medieval Greek Digenis Acritas and the Old French Chanson de Roland, are well known to this day. Although the extant versions of these epics are generally considered the works of individual (but anonymous) poets, there is no doubt that they are based on their peoples' older oral traditions. Celtic traditions have survived in the lais of Marie de France, the Mabinogion and the Arthurian cycles.

Anonymity

A notable amount of medieval literature is anonymous. This is not only due to the lack of documents from a period, but also due to an interpretation of the author's role that differs considerably from the romantic interpretation of the term in use today. Medieval authors were often overawed by the classical writers and the Church Fathers and tended to re-tell and embellish stories they had heard or read rather than invent new stories. And even when they did, they often claimed to be handing down something from an auctor instead. From this point of view, the names of the individual authors seemed much less important, and therefore many important works were never attributed to any specific person.

Types of writing

Religious

Theological works were the dominant form of literature typically found in libraries during the Middle Ages. Catholic clerics were the intellectual centre of society in the Middle Ages, and it is their literature that was produced in the greatest quantity.

Countless hymns survive from this time period (both liturgical and paraliturgical). The liturgy itself was not in fixed form, and numerous competing missals set out individual conceptions of the order of the mass. Religious scholars such as Anselm of Canterbury, Thomas Aquinas, and Pierre Abélard wrote lengthy theological and philosophical treatises, often attempting to reconcile the teachings of the Greek and Roman pagan authors with the doctrines of the Church. Hagiographies, or "lives of the saints", were also frequently written, as an encouragement to the devout and a warning to others.

The Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine reached such popularity that, in its time, it was reportedly read more often than the Bible. Francis of Assisi was a prolific poet, and his Franciscan followers frequently wrote poetry themselves as an expression of their piety. Dies Irae and Stabat Mater are two of the most powerful Latin poems on religious subjects. Goliardic poetry (four-line stanzas of satiric verse) was an art form used by some clerics to express dissent. The only widespread religious writing that was not produced by clerics were the mystery plays: growing out of simple tableaux re-enactments of a single Biblical scene, each mystery play became its village's expression of the key events in the Bible. The text of these plays was often controlled by local guilds, and mystery plays would be performed regularly on set feast-days, often lasting all day long and into the night.

During the Middle Ages, the Jewish population of Europe also produced a number of outstanding writers. Maimonides, born in Cordoba, Spain, and Rashi, born in Troyes, France, are two of the best-known and most influential of these Jewish authors.

Secular

The first page of Beowulf

Secular literature in this period was not produced in equal quantity as religious literature, but much has survived and we possess today a rich corpus. The subject of " courtly love" became important in the 11th century, especially in the Romance languages (in the French, Spanish, Provençal, Galician-Portuguese and Catalan languages, most notably) and Greek, where the traveling singers— troubadours—made a living from their songs. The writings of the troubadours are often associated with unrequited longing, but this is not entirely accurate (see aubade, for instance). In Germany, the Minnesänger continued the tradition of the troubadours.

In addition to epic poems in the Germanic tradition (e.g. Beowulf and Nibelungenlied), epic poems in the tradition of the chanson de geste (e.g. The Song of Roland & Digenis Acritas) which deal with the Matter of France and the Acritic songs respectively, courtly romances in the tradition of the roman courtois which deal with the Matter of Britain and the Matter of Rome achieved great and lasting popularity. The roman courtois is distinguished from the chanson de geste not only by its subject matter, but also by its emphasis on love and chivalry rather than acts of war.

Political poetry was written also, especially towards the end of this period, and the goliardic form saw use by secular writers as well as clerics. Travel literature was highly popular in the Middle Ages, as fantastic accounts of far-off lands (frequently embellished or entirely false) entertained a society that, in most cases, limited people to the area in which they were born. (But note the importance of pilgrimages, especially to Santiago de Compostela, in medieval times, also witnessed by the prominence of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.)

Women's literature

While it is true that women in the medieval period were never accorded full equality with men (although some sects, such as the Cathars, afforded women greater status and rights), some women were able to use their skill with the written word to gain renown. Religious writing was the easiest avenue—women who would later be canonized as saints frequently published their reflections, revelations, and prayers. Much of what is known about women in the Middle Ages is known from the works of nuns such as Clare of Assisi, Bridget of Sweden, and Catherine of Siena.

Frequently, however, the religious perspectives of women were held to be unorthodox by those in power, and the mystical visions of such authors as Julian of Norwich and Hildegard of Bingen provide insight into a part of the medieval experience less comfortable for the institutions that ruled Europe at the time. Women wrote influential texts in the secular realm as well—reflections on courtly love and society by Marie de France and Christine de Pizan continue to be studied for their glimpses of medieval society.

Allegory

While medieval literature makes use of many literary devices, allegory is so prominent in this period as to deserve special mention. Much of medieval literature relied on allegory to convey the morals the author had in mind while writing--representations of abstract qualities, events, and institutions are thick in much of the literature of this time. Probably the earliest and most influential allegory is the Psychomachia (Battle of Souls) by Aurelius Clemens Prudentius. Other important examples include the Romance of the Rose, Everyman, Piers Plowman, Roman de Fauvel, and The Divine Comedy.

Notable literature of the period

Alexiad, Anna Comnena
Digenis Acritas, anonymous Greek author
Beowulf, anonymous Anglo-Saxon author
Cantigas de Santa Maria, Galician authors
Caedmon's Hymn
David of Sassoun by an anonymous Armenian author
Cato (Distichs of Cato), Dionysius Cato
The Book of the City of Ladies, Christine de Pizan
Book of the Civilized Man, Daniel of Beccles
The Book of Good Love, Juan Ruiz
The Book of Margery Kempe, Margery Kempe
Brut, Layamon
Brut, Wace
Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius
The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer
The Cloud of Unknowing, anonymous English author
Decameron, Giovanni Boccaccio
The Dialogue, Catherine of Siena
The Diseases of Women, Trotula of Salerno
La divina commedia (The Divine Comedy), Dante Alighieri
Dukus Horant, the first extended work in Yiddish.
Elder Edda, various Icelandic authors
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, anonymous English author
Heimskringla, Snorri Sturluson
Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum ("The Ecclesiastical History of the English People"), the Venerable Bede
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, Francesco Colonna?
The King's Mirror, anonymous Norwegian author
The Knight in the Panther Skin, Shota Rustaveli
The Lais of Marie de France, Marie de France
The Letters of Abelard and Heloise
Das fließende Licht der Gottheit, Mechthild of Magdeburg
Ludus de Antichristo, anonymous German author
Mabinogion, various Welsh authors
Metrical Dindshenchas, Irish onomastic poems
Le Morte d'Arthur, Sir Thomas Malory
Nibelungenlied, anonymous German author
Njál's saga, anonymous Icelandic author
Parzival, Wolfram von Eschenbach
Piers Plowman, William Langland
Poem of the Cid, anonymous Spanish author
Proslogium, Anselm of Canterbury
Queste del Saint Graal (The Quest of the Holy Grail), anonymous French author
Revelations of Divine Love, Julian of Norwich
Roman de la Rose, Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun
Scivias, Hildegard of Bingen
Sic et Non, Abelard
The Song of Roland, anonymous French author
Spiritual Exercises, Gertrude the Great
Summa Theologiae, Thomas Aquinas
Táin Bó Cúailnge, anonymous Irish author
The Tale of Igor's Campaign, anonymous Russian author
Tirant lo Blanc, Joanot Martorell
Il milione (The Travels of Marco Polo), Marco Polo
Tristan, Thomas d'Angleterre
Tristan, Béroul
Troilus and Criseyde, Geoffrey Chaucer
Waltharius
Younger Edda, Snorri Sturluson
Yvain: The Knight of the Lion, Chrétien de Troyes
Gesta Danorum, Saxo Grammaticus

Specific articles

Medieval and Renaissance literature
Early Medieval
Matter of Rome Matter of France Matter of Britain Byzantine Kannada
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